Doctor Who: Ice Moon
by Jetplague
Summary: The Tenth Doctor Adventures Continue! A grim situation arises when the Doctor and Andrea land on an Ice Moon that's being mined.


Doctor Who: Ice Moon  
  
(Tenth Doctor Who Adventures)  
  
By Jeff Walker  
  
In the depths of outer space, hanging out in a lone solar system, a small icy moon orbits a distant sun, with no planet to accompany it as it rotates alone. The moon looks almost faint blue in color; an atmosphere circles the cold desolate moon. Its face is full of deep ravines and mountainous ranges of ice. As we close in on a small area of the planet, in a very ice ridden valley, a lone dark figure is running in the frigid, snowy climate. The man is wearing a dark blue thermal outfit; it's lightweight and almost looks military. The pale looking man looks wounded in the leg, as he limps his way through the deep snow laden valley. As he stops to rest for a second, another pair of feet comes crunching through the snowy depths behind him. Getting closer and closer, until it stops at the base of him. Gasping for air, the man turns to see who it is; he can only make out his legs at first, but soon gazes up at the rather large figure. Looking in fear, the man pleads for his life, " No...." wheezing in the terrible cold air into his weakened lungs, " Please...no... No..... NOOOOO!!!" he shouts out. Because as he pleaded for his life, the mysterious person held up a chunk of ice the size of a rock and threw it down at him as he screamed in terror.  
  
Inside the all white room with perforated walls, one side opens up like two doors swinging open with a mechanical sound. As they finish opening, a fairly large beach ball comes hurling in and smacks against the computerized octagonal shaped console sitting in the middle of the room. Two people can be heard laughing as they soon enter in as well. Andrea Blaine runs in and grabs the ball just as it starts to make its second bounce on the TARDIS's controls. She giggles and laughs as she turns back around to face the doors, " That was neat.... It's like the ball just sucked itself in here! ", she cries out to the Doctor as he too starts to walk in now. Andrea is dressed in a two-piece bikini out fit, and tanned sandals on her feet. The bikini shows off her olive complexion, if looks could kill, her body would be the ultimate weapon. A very stunning and beautiful girl, the blonde hair of hers flows down her shoulders, certainly she would stop any man dead in his tracks if she walked by in that outfit. The Doctor, as he enters, is wearing a big straw hat, a big red Hawaiian shirt designed with white question marks all over it. His shorts are checkered with black and grey and wearing two miss-matched sandals of different colors.  
  
" I told you it would happen, once it enters near the door, the motion it generates causes the TARDIS to pull it in all the way. Almost like it knows what's there and brings it in to complete the full motion inside.", he says to her as he removes his straw hat. She holds the ball in front of her keeping it tight to her body, she moves out of the way so the Doctor can get to the control panel in order to shut the door. "That was the best vacation I've ever had. The milk green sea was warm and refreshing, the twin suns setting in the distance....", she says rather reflectively, " Good thing they told us on Malacus 4 that they moved the resort over to Malacus 8 almost 400 years ago...huh Doctor?"  
  
He realizes that she was dropping a subtle hint at him, " I told you hadn't been here in while...400 years isn't much to a Timelord you know. Why am I defending myself against you anyway...we still had fun didn't we? Hm? Just a slight miscalculation is all, the guide on Malacus 4 did say people made that mistake too you know! ", He says to her in his testy nature. She rolls her eyes and moves toward the door that leads out to the TARDIS's hallway, " Yeeessss Doctor, but he also said the last one who asked him for directions was nearly 200 years ago." she finishes with a quick glance and smirk as she walks out the door and straight into the hall. The Doctor grumbles and gripes, and gives off his answer after she's long since left, " Poppycock!! 200 years...the guide was 200 years...that's what guides are supposed to do, they guide people. Careful old boy, you'll end up talking to yourself...right...sorry. ", He mutters away to himself as if he's talking to his inner thoughts. He fiddles with the controls and starts the column to energize; it's blue electrical hoops from below and above collide together as it soon starts making the whooshing noise. He soon looks up at the sight and grins, " Good girl...now then, lets give this bathing beauty a more precise location eh? ", he leans into the controls and whispers to it, much like a man talking to his pet, " From hot to cold hmm? Shhhhh..... don't spoil it for her...keep her guessing." The mad man smiles and continues his flickering of switches and turns of knobs.  
  
Back at the ice moon, in the valley depths, the TARDIS begins to materialize and soon comes to rest in the snow-covered area. Inside the TARDIS, Andrea finally steps back in from the outer hall door, and back into the main control room. Now wearing tight blue jeans, a bright green mono colored shirt, and a waist sized jean jacket. As she looks around the room, the Doctor is nowhere to be found. "Doctor? Doctor? ", She says as she wonder where he's gone off now. Just as she asks for him, he pops out from the same door she just came from and startles her as he responds, " Right Here!", he booms out to her. She screams from the surprise and gives him a nasty look. " Oooh you...stop doing that to me! Its bad enough I thought there was someone else running around in this maze, I don't need you to make it worst. ", She grumbles at him. He walks by her and heads over to the controls, " Well no need to worry about that. We've scanned the whole inside, no body in here...nobody but us two fishy hm? So I guess our mysterious helper must be an isolated incident. Ah good...we've landed. "  
  
She walks over to him and stares down at the console, " So where are we now? More sunny resorts or perhaps they're old locations? ", She says with humor.  
  
" No, no....much more to your liking I think. I'll give you a hint. ", He says to her as he leans over closely, " I think you'd better slip on your wooly mittens "  
  
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In the deep snow covered valley, the icy winds howls through in a white blinding blizzard, in the cold mist, The Doctor and Andrea are walking briskly through the area. Andrea is fully dressed in heavy snow gear, the very thick coat she wears is a deep blue, and has some fur trimmings around the edges of her hood that is wrapped around her head. She wore thick gloves, boots, and everything to totally protect her from the severe weather. The Doctor is also covered well, only his gear is less overly done. Timelords tend to have more resistance to cold climates; two beating hearts tend to give them a greater percentage of body heat. Much like his style for dressing oddly, his coat looks more like a long tweed coat that Sherlock Homes would wear out on the moors in London, England. Not needing a hat, he prefers to wear a very long scarf, almost similar to what his fourth generative self might have always had slung around him.  
  
" This is your great surprise?? ", Andrea says to him as she shivers from the brisk air swirling around her, " If I wanted to see snow I could have stayed in Canada...we do have snow ya know! ", she grumbles at him.  
  
" Oh pish! This is the ultimate giant snowball; I thought you'd be amazed at its various features? This moon is comprised of 100 percent pure ice...not one single gram of earth or soil in it at all. A beautiful ice world floating in space...doesn't that put things in perspective for you my dear? ", He says to her gleefully.  
  
" Yes.... it means we're standing on the biggest glacier in the galaxy right? ", she says as she turns to look at him. Watching him nod with a big smile on his face makes her wonder if he is in fact all there upstairs. ".... Uh huh...Ok Doc..... you want me to be amazed? Fine, I'm amazed I'm bewildered, I've never seen such a awe inspiring sight in my whole entire life!!! Now...can we go back to the TARDIS and find a more seasonal planet to explore? "  
  
Watching her scream all that out and then turn around to beg is almost insulting to him. But it's also wonderful to him to bring another non- galifreian to see the marvels of the universe, so he cheerfully dismisses her typical human attitude. " There now...was that so hard? ", the lightly covered Timelord comically says to her, smiling away like the grinning jester he is, he finally has one look around and breathes in the frigid air. " The freshest air you'll ever breathe in your lifetime...and you want to go sipping Harvey Wallbangers on the beach all day. Humans.... your an unimaginative lot. All right then, come on...if we get back in time perhaps we can have a hot cup of tea and warm ourselves near the Nucleaonic-hydromatrix- enterosimiter.... yes? "  
  
He turns back over his foot prints now laying in the snow behind him, and starts to skip in-between them like a juvenile child. Andrea takes in one more breath and soon shifts her feet trying to follow the loony man who looks to be having more fun then she is. But just then she trips and totally collapses in the snow. " AAH! ", she cries out, the shock of the icy snow hitting her face gives her a quick spark of just how cold the ground really is. The Doctor turns to see her and starts laughing out loud, a right good sight to his eyes and just the sort of fun he was looking to see her display. " At away girl! I think you've got the right idea...angels in the snow.... just move your arms and legs my dear ", he continues to laugh at the very humorous incident. Andrea shrugs off his taunting laugh, and rises up from her fall. Just as she wipes the snow off of her nice looking coat, she discovers something sticking out from the snow she landed on. " Doctor! I've found something! ", She says to call him over.  
  
The Doctor calmly walks through the snow to have a look at her discovery, not actually believing she has found anything. There hasn't been a visitor on this moon for an eternity, mainly because its too cold to colonize, and much to icy to land on. " What is it? A cold sore? A frozen food entree perhaps? ", He says snickering as he finally pulls up beside her. She begins digging deeper, uncovering more of the strange thing embedded in the snow. As she finally uncovers the rest, they are soon startled by what is now fully visible to them both.  
  
" Oh my God!! Doctor...its...Human!!! ", She screams out. The Doctor looks on with a surprised look, there in plain sight to him was a human face with the look of sheer terror, mouth open and full of snow, with the eyes staring directly at them in its permanently frozen position. It was the man that was killed earlier before their arrival; his last scream in the ice valley would be the final look they would see.  
  
" That's impossible, a human like species here? How very odd. This man must have been killed recently as well. ", The Doctor says in a more reasoning caliber.  
  
Taking her hand away from her mouth, after seeing such a shocking sight, she looks up at him with puzzlement, " What? How can you be so sure? "  
  
" Well, look how deep he is in the snow...can't be more then an hour or so. If he'd been dead longer, he would be under at least a few many more feet of snow and we would never have found him just as you did.... ", The Doctor stops in his thought, and soon has a terrible realization as he looks around, "...oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...Andrea... ", He says as he picks her up.  
  
" Hmm? ", she simple vocals at him as he lifts her up  
  
" I think we really should be leaving. Bodies lying around like this, in such a short time span, usually means we're in a great deal of trouble...especially when we're the only two people hovering around it. Come on...Back to the TARDIS! ", He shouts out to her.  
  
They begin to run, he keeps a good hold on her as they glide through the icy snow, but standing at the edge of the valley they've entered are a pair of armed men. Seeing them waiting for them causes them both to stop dead in their tracks, the darkly dressed men are almost exactly outfitted the same as the corpse they were just seen fleeing from. The armed men move in on them and point their weapons; one of the battle fatigued snow troopers yells out to them both, " Stop where you are!! If one of you makes a move...You're Dead! "  
  
The Doctor sighs, they both raise up their hands in surrender and he looks at Andrea very cautiously, " I absolutely hate it when I'm right. "  
  
With they're hands behind their heads and guns pointed at their backs, the Doctor and Andrea march ahead of the soldiers who follow closely behind. Andrea sniffles from the cold air, no doubt already getting a runny nose from the chill.  
  
" Ugh.... this is becoming a typical routine with you isn't it? How many more times will we find ourselves in this position Doctor? ", She says to him with a great bit of anger.  
  
" Don't blame me my dear, these men aren't even supposed to be here...and I don't always put us in this position...not intentionally anyways", he grumbles at her. The guard behind them hears them talking and walks up butting the end of his gun at the back of the Timelord's head.  
  
" No Talking I said!! Keep Moving! ", He shouts to him after hitting him.  
  
The Doctor soon feels the pain of that blow, and squints his eyes in pain. He'll never get over the fact that every time he is caught for something he didn't do, they always end up hurting him in some fashion. As they walk in the crisp snow, a dark object straight ahead of them soon appears out of the cold mists. A silhouette of a ship can be seen as it becomes larger with every footstep towards it. It looks as though it has spider-like legs al around it, each one clutched deeply in the ice. Not the normal looking type of spacecraft one would see, certainly not in Andrea's eyes anyhow. The ship is rather massive, in the center of its huge body a massive tube seems to be deep down in the ground below it. The grinding and spinning of it can be heard, as they grow closer. As they reach the back of the huge vessel, the guard behind Andrea picks up a communicator out of his closed pocket on his sleeve.  
  
" Datalus, Datalus...Come in. Echo unit has returned from survey, requesting outer door hatch open. ", The guard says into the small black communicator in his hand.  
  
The sound of electronic interference buzzes over the small radio, and clears up as the male voice responds to the guard's request, " Rodger Echo Unit, Doors opening. That was a short trip Merlac, what's the problem? "  
  
The guard Merlac keeps his gun poised at the prisoners as he responds back, " Caught the two responsible for our missing man. We'll bring them up to the bridge for the Captain to question them. "  
  
The big back door on the huge ship opens up, it slides upwards and lets a steel ramp slowly glide down towards them, as it finally reaches the surface they push the Doctor and Andrea on it as they all walk up the ramp. As they all reach the top, the ramp retracts back into the ship and the huge door slides back down sealing them all inside out of the cold.  
  
On the bridge, a clean-shaven man with a shaven head sits in the command chair as he gazes out of the big windows in font of him. His chair is filthy and used. Much like the whole interior of the ship, its black and rusty with many large computers all over the walls. Some look like they're functioning, others look like they've seen better days. All around him are the command crew; behind him are two lower sections, devoted to communications and ship navigation. A long ramp behind him as well stretches right to the main door way, it goes straight from his command chair pad, over the two sections, and right to the entrance. The Captain sits in his chair with a look of a man lost in thought, his hand holding his chin as his elbow rests on the armrest. The main door slides open, Merlac and the other guards push the Doctor and Andrea through as they bring them up to the commander's chair area. The Captain turns around to face them, a look of stone soon cascades over the man's face as he starts to question them.  
  
"Where did you find them Merlac? "  
  
Merlac lowers his gun for a second as he answers, " Near the outer rim zone sir. I saw them trying to bury Jackson in the snow...probably to hide the evidence...I'm sure ", he looks over at the Doctor with contempt as he snarls about witnessing them in the act.  
  
The Captain holds up his hand to quiet the angered Guard, " That's enough Merlac....", he looks at the Doctor, " So what's your story then...why did you kill my man, hm? "  
  
The Doctor starts to rub his nose, the feeling of the warm air now makes it feel tingly, " Well.... I don't know who killed him really. My lovely friend and I here where just on a tour of this wintery wonderland when we stumbled upon your poor frozen chap in the ground...but more to the point would be...what are you people doing here? ", He says back to the captain in his usual frantic talkbacks to those who blame him of something he didn't do.  
  
" Tourists? ", the captain says looking at them with disbelief, " On Ice Moon Theta five? I suggest you give me a better excuse then that, cause that's the stupidest one I've ever heard. No one just stops by here for a snow tour...no one. ", He tells them both with a stern look.  
  
Andrea turns to the Doctor and looks worried, " I don't think he's believing us Doctor..."  
  
" Doctor? Are you a Doctor of some sort? ", The captain says with interest.  
  
"Yes, I am rather...but you still haven't answered my question. Who are you people and what are you doing here? If no one visits this place as you say...then what are you lot doing on here as well? ", The Doctor says back to him.  
  
The Captain rises out of his chair and stands before them, " I'm Captain Gothner, of the Ice Driller from Beta Sigma Eight and I'll ask the questions if you don't mind...Doctor. ", he harps back at him.  
  
Not paying attention to his snappy retort, the Doctor thinks to himself about who he just revealed himself to be, " What! Beta Sigma Eight? Out this far in space? Surely the mining industry isn't running out this far..." he mutters to himself.  
  
Captain Gothner overhears the Doctor and responds to his concerns, " We have come along way, mining the purest ice is a very competitive market...the one who can find the purest water is the one who controls the whole industry. But I'm sure you two know that all to well...for a pair of spies." he says to them, drawing ever nearer to Andrea as he looks at her with hate filled eyes. Andrea cowers at his look, and tries to calm the angered man down.  
  
"L-L-Look.... we're not spies...we don't know anything about this ...ice industry your involved in. Honestly.... we're just looking around the moon! ", She says nervously  
  
" LIES!! ", Gothner screams, " Keep these lies going and I'll leave you both to die here on this frozen wasteland!! "  
  
The Doctor soon interrupts him, giving Andrea a moments peace from the screaming captain, " Listen, we're telling you the truth...no need to get testy with us my good man! If we were spies why didn't we kill your men as well when they saw us there? Hm? Spies don't usually come quietly do they? Not the ones you know...nooo, we're not spies.........spies don't snoop around unarmed do they captain? ", His voice sooths as he tries to reach the captain's sense of reasoning. To which, it does make him think, the captain turns around rubbing his chin again. He mutters alone to himself out of earshot.  
  
" No....spies of Remi four usually kill anyone around them, or poison themselves rather then capture. This may just be a new tactic...yes.... some twisted way to get aboard. Still...they're not dressed like the Remians I've seen...hm. ", he thinks away to himself. He soon turns around again and continues with his questioning, " How did you get here then? Where's your mode of transportation? "  
  
"Its outside, out in the edge of the valley...you can't miss it really...its the blue box with all the snow on It. ", the Doctor says to him rather comically.  
  
"Box? Stop playing games with me...What are you a Doctor of....", he asks the quirky Timelord.  
  
" Oh.... many things...I'm more of a scientist really.", he says rubbing his hand on his head. The moment he mentioned scientist to the captain, Gothner got an interested look in his eye and for once cracked a smile.  
  
" A scien-...did you say...you were a scientist? ", asking the Doctor again in a more friendlier tone. The Doctor smiles back, " Yes...one of my more real devotions really. Why? Are you in need of one? ", He says curiously to him.  
  
Gothner walks back to his chair, his eyes shift frantically as he thinks things over, he turns around and looks at them both again, " We are in desperate need of one yes...perhaps...yes.... perhaps if I allow this oversight on our part and let you both go, may I ask that you do us a favor and stay...as our guests. ", he says smiling this time.  
  
The guards behind them couldn't believe what they were hearing. Merlac is furious and points the gun up to the prisoners again, " What?! I will not let these two spies out of my sight!! You're mad!! They killed Jackson! They knew it was your only scientist...they did this on purpose; they're working for the Remians. I know their game..." the guard frantically shouts at his superior.  
  
" Quiet Merlac!!! You're not in charge of these two anymore...and I'm beginning to believe they didn't have anything to do with your friend. So cool it! We need a scientist...if we don't get the proper ice for the company, they'll make sure our families suffer our disgrace! ", Gothner bellows at his unhappy guard, which is enough to make Merlac lower his gun and fall back in line. The company that own them makes sure they're mission is a total success or else they and their families will be totally broke, given no supply of fresh water and branded as traitors to the government. The Doctor looks at Merlac as he recoils in fear; Andrea is also surprised by his fear of his captain just told him. The Timelord looks back at the captain and steps a bit closer to him, now that all the charges against them have been dropped.  
  
"Right. So if you want to maintain your quota, tell me everything about this operation of yours, and while we're at it.........I don't suppose you have any hot coco for my friend and I? Hm? ", He says to the captain with a great big grin on his face, the humorous comment has no effect on Gothner, probably because he's not sure what the heck hot coco is.  
  
Outside in the valley again, a new group of men have returned to their buried scientist friend, the four of them lay down a body bag to put the frozen corpse into, they start to dig around the body and one of them realizes he's forgotten something.  
  
"Oh damn...I forgot the heated shovels! I'll go back to get them ", the first man says. The other team member opposite to him taps him on the shoulder; " I'll go with ya...I think we'll need the hover cart to bring him back to base as well. You guy's keep digging.... we won't take long. "  
  
The other two nod and continue trying to scrape the man out, the pair that need to go back soon walk away and vanish into the ice blizzard. As the diggers continue, the dead man's hand begins to twitch; the diggers don't even see it. Soon the hand begins moving and his eyes look at the two men beside him. In a quick jolt, the dead man's hand reaches out and grabs one of the diggers. He burst out of his ice tomb and hold the man by the neck causing him to convulse. The other digger jumps back in horror, the icy corpse is a terrifying sight, and is helpless to do anything. The choking digger screams with his mouth open as the frozen man opens his closer to him, just then a massive squirt of water projects into the screaming man's mouth and he swallows the liquidly substance. His eyes roll and soon turns blue, he then drops to the ground as if he is dead. The iceman turns towards the other digger laying in fear, and grapples on to him as well. Screaming once again, he becomes the second victim of the icy squirt into the throat. He drops him to the ground after the deed is done; both men now lay on the ground looking dead. The iceman soon howls out in a rather spooky inhuman like roar, and runs after the other two men heading towards the ship.  
  
One of the men walking looks back after hearing the strange noise, " Did you hear something? ", he says as he taps his other friend on the shoulder. The other one turns and listens " Must be the wind. Come on we're nearly there..." he calmly says to his buddy. They both hear the howl again, and this time turn to look in the icy storm behind them, the snow is coming down so hard its not entirely visible to see what's ahead. Just as they peer into the cold foggy mists, the dead frozen man leaps out at them and attacks them both. Just like the other two, it subjects them to an ice water blast into their lungs, and leaves them for dead at his feet. Snarling and breathing out icy fumes, it turns to see the ship in the distance; the silhouette of the ship is barely visible. The frozen zombie gives off a loud roar that fills the entire valley.  
  
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Inside the huge spider like ship, the captain leads the Doctor and Andrea to the science lab. He explains their mission to the Doctor and also about the recent water shortage they're corporation government is experiencing.  
  
" You see Doctor, we've been in a bit of an ice war if you will, Remi four has been trying to over take our supplies for some time. Just recently they've managed to hoard most of the main ice comets and moon caps. That's why we came out here.... we found out there was a solitary moon full of ice in this far reaching sector and learned our enemy hadn't known of its existence. Not yet anyway.", he says to them as he opens up the lab doors and steps through. Once they all walk through, he finishes his conversation in the rather dimly lit, poor excuse of a lab room. " We've been ordered to secure the freshest ice sample and bring it back to Beta Sigma Eight as soon as possible. Naturally we need to test the core ice first before we can give them our report. Doctor Ian Jackson was our leading ice expert on this mission, but as you say, you don't know what happened to him...well quiet frankly neither do we."  
  
He looks at Andrea as she searches the room, getting back into her police investigator mode, and an old habit from her days being a Canadian police officer. She studies everything with interest, sniffing beakers with water samples, eyeing the electronic spectrographs, and looking at a computer terminal that still seems to be running. The Doctor also gazes around the room; it's a stuffy environment to him, not very clean and certainly not very high tech. He knows about Beta Sigma, he's heard of the many injustices of that ruling government. They like to control the flow of water to outer colonies and make huge profits, much like earth bottle water companies and vodka makers do. Those Earth companies try to secure glaciers and ice floats for their products, ripping away ice that's been frozen for millions of years, in order to get that purest taste of fresh clean water. The Doctor knows to tread lightly on dominated corporate planets; the last thing he wants to go through is a ton of paper work and red tape. Still he looks around the room and also notices the computer that Andrea is staring at.  
  
" Looks like this place has been ransacked, all the samples are all over the place, and there's a computer still left on here..." Andrea notes to the captain and Doctor standing behind her.  
  
The Doctor punches a few buttons on the computer, and soon pops up the last log entry, " So it would seem...hmm...ah, here it is...Log entry 550-219: Have found the moon core, sample is good and the water is illuminating a strange hue. Still the water is the purest I've ever seen, no traces of contamination and no radiation traces found as well. Hm....seems to be a missing bit at the end here....", the Doctor says with a curious notion.  
  
Gothner looks at the monitor and comments on the discovery, " Perhaps he was changing some of his statement? I think that would be the most likely of explanations for that...he did tend to write reports the company didn't like to hear. Sometimes he had to dress them up a bit better.... makes them feel more confident in his findings. "  
  
The Doctor looks up at him, " Really...well I don't think that's the case here. According to the computer's history log..." he taps on the computer keyboard, " he made copy of the report, printed a hard copy, and was trying to send a transmission to Beta Sigma at the time. ", the Timelord says to the captain.  
  
Andrea sits down on the chair facing the computer and looks in on the history the Doctor was talking about. The captain looks surprised by the revelation and quickly looks to the quirky man for answers, "That's not possible, such a transmission would have to be requested and put through the command center on the bridge. He didn't have authorization for such a signal. "  
  
Andrea turns the chair and opens up her jacket, now feeling warmer she needs her body to breath a bit better, underneath she still is wearing her mono colored green shirt, the tops of her blue jeans can also be seen from the snow pants she's got on. Her jacket and snow pants match each other in color, a deep blue, only her snow pants have a couple of white stripes down the sides of them. As she turns and unzips her coat, she also wonders about those missing materials. " What about the hard copy and the saved data? Isn't there some sort of safe he would store that in? I dunno Captain; sounds to me like you've got a mystery on your hands here. Someone has either hidden or destroyed that data. ", She concludes.  
  
The Doctor likes her train of thought, she'd make a good detective someday, but for now there's too many holes to fill in before they can state it was sabotage. " Yes...far to many variables to be sure. I'm more interested in the core samples themselves. He mentioned a moon core specimen that was a bright blue...yet I don't see any around the room. Much of the ice here is melted and scattered about as if...well..." he pauses while Gothner leans in from curiosity.  
  
" As if what Doctor? ", he asks.  
  
The Timelord finishes his thought, "...well as if someone came in, smashed up all the samples and threw out the rest. "  
  
Andrea seems interested in that bit of logic, it does indeed look like someone rushed in the lab and deliberately destroyed the samples on purpose. She looks at all the melting bits on the floor and in the sample core tubes lying about as well. Captain Gothner is skeptical, but since he is in need of a scientist and someone to help solve his problem, he goes along with their observation. " If that's true, then one of my men must be the spies...right? I mean from what you're saying...it sounds to me like someone doesn't want us to know the results of that core sample. ", The shaved bald headed man says in reaction to the Doctor's suspicion. The Doctor walks over to the next table; on it sits an electronic microscope, and the only thing that looks advanced in the whole room. The computer terminal looks old and dated for that planet's period, and the rest of the lab equipment has a dated look as well. He picks up one of the core tubes, now empty with only a few drops of water left in them, and looks inside of it.  
  
" Well.... its one possibility captain sir. I think the best bet is to find the core sample itself.... that may have the answers we're looking for as well. Perhaps you can get us another sample from this monstrosity of yours.", he says pointing around, and giving the impression he's talking about his ship. Gothner thinks again, walking over to the door, folding his arms over each other in doubt. But he quickly turns to them and nods in agreement. " Ok...Fine. I'll make the men get you another sample, but there has to be no mention of any of this sabotage to the rest of crew. The last thing I need on my hands right now is an all out panic among them.", he says with determination.  
  
" Agreed. Right then.... I think we need to clean up a bit in here...haven't we Andrea. ", He says to her in a jolly mood. Andrea just smirks at his suggestion and rolls her eyes. Clean up a room, funny, she doesn't even clean up her own home back in Canada, now she's got to clean up someone's strange lab room. Irony is full of surprises on this adventure for her. The captain walks out of the room while the two remain to work. As he starts to walk down the narrow metal grated hall, he receives an urgent message from the intercom near by.  
  
" Captain Gothner to the bridge! Captain Gothner to the bridge! ", The static old speaker fizzles out of it. Gothner moves over to the intercom and pushes the button to speak to the bridge. " Captain here, what's up Westmore? ", he says to the communications officer in a commanding tone.  
  
" Sir.... I can't get our morgue team detail. They haven't reported in an hour! I've been getting no response on their communicators! ", The frantic officer reports.  
  
Gothner sighs and pinches the temple of his nose, the weary commander responds back with little enthusiasm, " Maybe the weather is interfering with ship communications...just monitor the scanner for their bio signs.... they're not that far away, so the ship can read them."  
  
Westmore answers back with more bad news, " Sir, I've already tried that...I'm getting nothing here. No bio readouts, the installed chips are giving me a null reading..." the worried officer conveys to the captain. Biochips were installed to all Beta Sigma Eight people; it was a way to keep track of the population and a good way to locate missing people. The government never misses an opportunity to ensure they know where all of their laborers are at all times. The captain is blown away by Westmore's answer; he now rushes to the bridge to see what all the commotion is about.  
  
Outside the ship, the frozen Jackson approaches the large drilling vessel; it hears the drill reactivate and starts screaming at the metallic giant. He rushes over to the center column and pounds on the metal casing. As he looks around the cylinder, he notices a door, one that you have to open manually. He walks over to it and begins turning away at the round steering wheel opener, his voice is ragged and growling, his body looks totally frozen and ice like. Continuing to turn on it the door soon opens up; he grabs the handle and swings open the door outward. The rasping ice zombie moves in and enters inside the column. On the bridge, the captain asks for a status report, " Westmore, what the hell is going on...where are they?" he demands.  
  
Westmore fiddles with the ancient computer, turning dials, pushing buttons and staring at the flickering monitors in front of him. " I don't know sir, its like they're all dead out there. No body heat detected, no movement.... but....", he pauses.  
  
Gothner looks down from the platform he's standing on towards the built in floor communications section, " but...but what?" he asks.  
  
" I could swear there was something out there sir...like a person in the blizzard moving. Not only that...but there was...well.........a howling coming from outside." he hesitates to say.  
  
" You're losing it! All of you...there's nothing out there...if the men are dead, then their frozen solid. There's nothing alive on this Moon!!" Gothner shouts at the officer.  
  
Inside the coring room, the workers manage to get a sample of the ice moon core again. They lift it up from the drill compartment and give it to one of the guards standing there, ready to take it to the Doctor in the lab. As he walks out and heads down the hall, the men relax and begin talking with one another. Suddenly a sound of one of them screaming is heard below. The work leader rushes down to see the matter only to come face to face with the frozen zombie as it drops the man it just killed. The leader looks at the icy corpse carefully and soon realizes who the man is, " Jack? Jackson? Is that you...?" Before he can react, Jackson reaches out and spits the water into the team leader's mouth and soon drowns him to death. Others come running down to see what the commotion is, and soon are witnesses to the horror.  
  
In the Lab, the Doctor and Andrea wait for the core sample, Andrea still looks at all the strange equipment with a keen eye, cleaning up the lab shows more evidence then lead to believe. She pauses while picking up more ice core containers; in one of the rusty long tubes is a small puddle of the florescent ice that was mentioned. " Hey Doctor...", she says as she waves him over to the discovery, "...Look at this. It was lying underneath the table here, isn't that the water the man was describing in the log entry? "  
  
The Doctor picks it out of her hand and studies it. Giving it a whiff with his nose, and rubbing a few droplets in between his fingers, he obviously knows that this is water, but water with a difference. " Hm....Strange, there's no smell to it...not even a special texture. Lets have a peek under the microscope. ", The quirky scientist says. Under the microscope he can see some sort of bright glowing structures like miniature crystalline, the small things pulsate with radiant light as it floats around in the liquid. As the Doctor stares away at this beautiful sight, he is beginning to wonder if there is more to this ice then meets the eye.  
  
" Interesting...self illumination. A rather rare occurrence in micro structures, I've only seen this before in another..." he stops in mid sentence and looks over at Andrea as she gazes up at him, "...do you know, I could swear that these things are alive. "  
  
Andrea snickers a bit, "Alive? How can that be? Its just water. "  
  
The Doctor just grins at her, again that human one way of thinking never ceases to amaze this Timelord, " Just water? Come now child, surely you're not that narrow minded? In the whole of the galaxy, do you think that solid matter is the only form of life? No, no, there's a lot more fascinating creatures in the universe then your lead to believe. Remember the incident that happened in your hometown? ", The Doctor says to her, hoping she would remember the horror that took place when they first met. (* - See the story in The Infection)  
  
" Yes.... all too well I'm afraid. But wait.... does that mean that this is another micro-disease? That these things will mutate others??! ", She starts to say to him with a grain of fear.  
  
" Not at all, calm yourself. I simply mean that not everything in the universe comes with arms and legs. There are all forms of life in the galaxy that don't even require bodies to contain them in. Still...this liquid has me rather confused. It's matter looks like a synaptic fluid, like its part of a much larger brain or something. I find it rather curious." he gets up from the chair that he was sitting on while looking at the sample. He rubs the front of his forehead and paces around the room as he thinks.  
  
" You know.... I also find it strange that the captain had no knowledge of this man's whereabouts. Something this important to him, you'd think he'd keep better track of his men. Missing log entries, a dead body, living water structures...something is going on here my dear Andrea. And it worries me. ", The Timelord says as he stands over Andrea as she continues to listen while cleaning up. She stops what she's doing and returns to her seat, the mystery is puzzling her too.  
  
" I think it worries me too Doctor. There's someone on board with an alternative motive here, and we're caught in the middle of it. Who would want this man dead.... why? What was discovered here that was that important that it warranted a life? ", She shakes her head trying to come to grips with it all.  
  
The Doctor also shakes his head at the thought of the killing over this; he's hoping the core sample that's being brought to them has the answer they seek. Unknown to them at this time, a small camera in the corner of the room watches they're every movement. Somewhere on the ship, a figure in shadows watches the monitors; the person has heard every word they've said, and soon turns off the screen. The figure leans back in a chair and sighs, beside the man on the table, is one of the pistols the crew all wear at their sides. The person picks it up and cocks the gun, the shadow of the person can be seen standing up, putting the gun in the holster on his pants and walking towards a door. Down the corridor, the guard that is bringing the core sample arrives at the Lab where the Doctor and Andrea wait. Entering the room he shows them he's brought it and hands it over to the Doctor. "Ah excellent my good man, thank you. I wonder if you might chap and have the drilling chief come here...I'd like to talk to him as well, maybe he knows more about the samples as well. ", He pleasantly says to the guard. The man nods and walks out of the room, just as the door closes behind him and turns to walk back down to the coring room, the look of terror fills his face as he is about to scream as something closes in on him very fast.  
  
Inside the lab room, the Doctor opens up the sample metal tube and sees the full bright blue glow. The Ice seems to pulsate and looks like there is a small blue blob moving inside of it. Andrea seems to be disgusted by the sight of the squirming blob moving around in it. " Uuhhg! What is it? It looks awful! ", She says scrunching her nose.  
  
The Doctor looks at it intensely, " Amazing isn't it...liquid within liquid, no solidity what so ever. I'm beginning to realize what's going on here...more importantly, I think I know who's responsible for the death of that scientist. ", The Doctor concludes.  
  
Just as Andrea was going to ask who it was, a loud thump at the door is hear by them, the Doctor figures it's the guard returning with the coring chief. " Back so soon? Hm....Maybe I was supposed to tip him for the services? ", He says grinning and laughing to Andrea. She also laughs at his small joke, and waits to see who it is. The Doctor starts to open the door, " With service like this, I should recommend you to several interplanetary hotels! "  
  
As the door swings open he comes face to face with the ice zombie Jackson, the cold man stands there snarling at the Doctor as his and the dead man's eyes grow wide at each other. Andrea screams out loud in horror, seeing the dead man standing in front of her friend makes her shout out the Timelord's name to warn him.  
  
" DOCTOOOOORRRR!!! "  
  
Coming down the old rusted metal corridor, the captain rushes around the corner to see the dead man standing at the lab's entrance. He stops quickly in his tracks as his eyes fill with horror at the sight of the frozen ex-scientist standing there. Whipping out his pistol from his side, he begins shooting away at the corpse, each bullet hitting the man deeply, but with no blood spilling out from him. The impact of each bullet pushes the dead man to the side, each hit makes him more angry and turns away from the Doctor, as he now focuses on charging down the captain. Gothner continues to fire away at the angry frozen stiff, and now yells out to the Doctor, " DOCTOR!! Get out! Run! I'll hold him off for you!!"  
  
The Doctor reaches back to grab Andrea, as she collects her wits and grabs hold of his hand. Together they run out of the room and start to make they're way down the other end of the hallway. Still gripping the core sample in his arm, the Doctor makes sure it doesn't slip out of his hands as he frantically runs and looks behind to see what's happening. The dead scientist, who was once called Jackson, continues to advance on the armed captain. With his last few bullets left, he shoots at the head, with no result. The gun now empty in his hand, he soon feels his doom is imminent. But coming around the bend is Merlac, the guard that brought the Doctor and Andrea aboard the ship. Carrying a semi automatic weapon, he quickly responds to the sight of the dead man charging towards his captain. A simple gasp of fear from him and the sound of his machine gun going off, causes the frozen man to drop backwards onto the ground, Merlac soon lets go of the trigger once the ' thing ' hits the steel grated floor. Looking at Gothner, he notices his mighty captain is in complete shock.  
  
" Captain!! Captain!! Snap out of it! What's going on here?! What is all of this!! ", He snaps at his commanding officer, giving him a slap to the cheek to bring him out of it. Gothner's eyes now focus on Merlac, thanks to his back handed slap, the captain now regains his focus. On the ground, the body starts to twitch again; slowly rising up from the floor as it tries to place it's self back on its feet. Gothner and Merlac are in awe, witnessing their dead friend rise up from being dead once again, words are lost between the two, but Gothner finds the strength to give another command to his guard friend.  
  
" Damnit! Come on.... Come ON! We've got to fall back to the bridge! NOW! ", He says to Merlac grabbing him and pulling him down the corner to the next corridor. Merlac's gaping mouth quivers, it's not possible to him that a man could take so many bullets and not be affected, or dead for that matter. Still, the order his captain gives still makes him move his feet, they both fall back to the command center, hoping they can regroup and start another assault with more men. Jackson, frozen, bullet ridden, regains his balance and heads off in the direction the two men when fleeing down. His voice is a deep animal like growl, the ice on his body drips from the heated bullet holes that now sit freshly on his person. A brisk walk starts to turn into a sprint, as he resumes the chase.  
  
Still running down the hall, the Doctor and Andrea try to find a safe place to stop in to recapture their breaths. Andrea stops running and pauses in the hallway. The Doctor soon stops a few meters in front once he realizes she's not with him, looking at her as she tries to rest, he starts to walk back to her. " Come on my dear.... this is no place to rest! ", he says in an impatient tone.  
  
" I.... I can't.... Doctor...Oh...I wish I hadn't eaten so much when we were on Malacus 4. I knew all that rich food would be the death of me. ", She laughs between her breathing.  
  
The Doctor just smiles, " Well.... you can't blame the cooking, I'm the one that told you to ask the chef for the ' Grand Galactic Bravado'. I'm still amazed you finished it all. "  
  
She laughs at his words, and finally looks rested up from the entire running. But looking behind herself, she soon gets the gut feeling they're not being pursued. " I think we lost him...Gawd, that was horrible...what was that thing anyway?" Andrea asks him.  
  
The Doctor looks down to see if the man is coming down their way as well, but after seeing he's not, he calms himself as well and answers his companion, " Don't you remember? You landed on his corpse outside...our good friend the mysterious dead Jackson. "  
  
Her eyes widen, the gross recall of seeing the body in front of her face flashes back in her memory, " Eeew.... oh man.... that was him? I thought he was dead??! This is getting weird..."  
  
" Ummm...I know. But Jackson is dead never the less; something else is controlling his body now. All those bullets hit him with no effect...not your typical human reaction wouldn't you say? ", He says to her in a sarcastic voice.  
  
Looking at the core sample tube in the Doctor's arms, Andrea begins to piece a few things in her mind, " You mean...that whatever was in there...is in him. Right? Taking over his body...maybe becoming whatever that is....? ", She says to the Timelord as he fiddles with the tube casing.  
  
" Yes...well...something like that I suppose. Though from the look of this thing, its not like it could just leap into the man, there's no limbs or even mobility of any sort from a glance..." the Doctor pauses again, looking like he's just made a significant breakthrough in his thought process, "...Of course! What a fool I've been! I should have seen it...all these lives and I still miss the obvious..." he says as he rambles on to himself. Andrea is hanging on for his answer, frustrated that he never explains his revelations, she shouts at him to spit it out for her.  
  
" What? What should you have known? Damn you Doctor, I'd wish you tell me these things! ", She gripes at the oddly dressed man.  
  
Standing there holding his short haired head, he shifts his eyes over to Andrea and winks. Something that she hates to see him do. He quickly walks over to her and takes hold of her hand, " I'll tell you later, right now we've got to get to the bridge, quickly before its too late." he says seriously to her.  
  
" I don't understand.... we're trying to avoid that area, now you want to go back? That...that thing will be there, no doubt with the intent of killing us! ", She harps at him as he pulls her along with him down the hall again. The Doctor looking preoccupied, just calmly talks back to her as his eyes look around the deck, " Yes...that's right, but I don't think its us it's really after...more likely its the crew...or one of them anyway. I've just realized who killed Jackson you see..."  
  
With that, the both of them disappear as he opens a door near the sidewall and they both walk through. Andrea had a look of puzzlement all over her face, he never explains any of his reasoning, and always makes it sound more like riddles for her to solve. Rolling her eyes at his silly answer, she just sighs and decides it's best not to ask anymore questions about it, most likely she'll just get more of the same riddles.  
  
â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢  
  
On the ship's bridge, the captain talks to a group of armed men standing at the doorway. Walking back and fourth like a military general giving his monumental speech to boost their spirits, he gives them the lowdown on what's happening and what their role is for the time being. " Alright boys, this is not a drill. As odd as this may sound, your former scientist, Jackson, has become a walking zombie! Merlac and I have tried to slow him down, but bullets don't seem to hurt him, I want you to keep plugging away at him till he does finally drop! He mustn't get past you! I don't care if he was your former friend, your best shipmate or that he was once a human! Shoot to kill men! Cause I'll bet he won't give you the same mercy.........Understood? I said is that Understood?!!" he barks at them all.  
  
The men all click their boots together and hold the guns up to their shoulders, responding in a military form of reply, " YES, SIR!! ", they all scream to him in unison.  
  
" Good...get out there! Be careful! ", He says back. They all file out the door and assume their positions in front of it as it closes. Merlac stands at the end of the small platform that leads to the captains' chair, looking out the big frosted windows that sit in front of the commander's seat. His arms folded and looking with great concern, he turns to his superior with a nervous posture. Westmore, the communications officer, looks up at the two men standing above his built in area that sits beneath the platform.  
  
" I dunno.... this is all wrong.... all wrong I tell you. ", the nervous Merlac says to his captain, " I still think those two spies are responsible for this...never did trust them..."  
  
Gothner looks at his cowardly officer and dispels his stupid statement, " They're not responsible for what happened, so don't you let me hear it again! The Doctor knows what to do...I hope he finds away to deal with this...and soon."  
  
" Hah, your man ran right out of your sight! How do you know he's even still on board, eh? He took the sample...and now he's gone! When are you going to wake up! He's responsible for this problem...for Jackson being that ...that thing out there. And now that he's got the core sample he'll be running off to his hidden vessel and giving the location to the enemy!! ", Merlac screams at him.  
  
Gothner covers his ears, not wanting to believe the story; still believing the Doctor and Andrea are not spies. Westmore can't help but sit there and watch all of this drama unfold between them. Two senior officers are bickering and losing control, it makes him wish he had taken his mother's advice and gotten a desk job in some corporate head office, but no, he had to have the thrill of space drilling. Shaking his head at what might be his doom, he realizes that some days it doesn't pay to be a communications officer. As the two scream, Westmore starts to hear a panel open up from underneath his floor. Looking down there is a hatch that has the words, emergency exit only, written on the sides of it. That door is now opening up before his eyes; he starts to panic and yells at the two squabbling commanders.  
  
"AAH! AHH!! SOMETHING IS COMING!! ", He shouts at them. The two quickly shut up, and see the door fling open. Fearing the worst, they both grab their side arms and point it at the newly open panel. A shorthaired head comes popping out of the hole and screams at them in a cockney accent.  
  
" Good day gov'ners! You's mind we pop in for a quick bubbles and squeak? "  
  
Both men relax as they realize it's the Doctor, making his usual quirky entrance as always. Gothner sighs as he's glad to see the Timelord, while Merlac is shaken and un-impressed with that bit of fright the man just pulled on them.  
  
" For god sakes, must you scare us like that you twit!!! ", Merlac screams at the Doctor.  
  
The Timelord just smiles and finishes his climb up into the room, right behind him, Andrea comes up and closes the hatch behind them. The Doctor gives Andrea the core sample to hold while he makes a jump up to the platform the captain and his nervous guards are standing on. Westmore smiles at the sight of Andrea, he seems to like her pretty face, having not seen a woman in so many long months, he could careless if she was a spy. She just smiles back at him, but soon retracts it quickly; the man's smile is much too desperate in her eyes. The Doctor stands between the two officers as they talk.  
  
" Well Doctor...have you found a way to kill this thing? ", the captain demands.  
  
Merlac just spins the odd dressed man around, and points at him with anger, " This is your fault...if you hadn't come here none of this would be happening right now! "  
  
The Doctor just smacks the man's finger out of his face, " Oh don't blame me.... I'm not the reason this happened. Get a hold of yourself man! You're awfully jittery for someone who's in command of the ships guard unit.", he leans in and gives him a deathly stare, " Perhaps your not fit for this title you've been given...hm? Maybe you're not good dealing with things that go wrong...am I right? ", He says to the scared man.  
  
Merlac just recoils, and folds his arms over again. He bites down on his nails nervously and looks out the windows again. The Doctor straightens up and just blankly stares at the reaction the man gave him, not the kind of response that he was looking for, he then turns back to the captain and finally answers the question he'd asked him before.  
  
" No I haven't found a way to kill it...tell me how do you kill a creature that's made out of ice itself? Heat? Hm? No....Someone has tried that before...and now we see the result. ", He calmly says.  
  
Behind him, Merlac shifts his eyes after hearing the Doctor reveal that information, continuing to bite his nails; he soon hears the weapons fire outside. Outside the door, the men fire upon the frozen corpse, it grabs each one of them and injects them with its water. Dropping like flies, they all become victims to its drowning method and become trapped against the door. The sounds of the men dying fill the command cabin, Merlac, Andrea, and Westmore are horrified by the sounds. The Doctor and Gothner stare at the door, realizing the men are doomed and that the dead Jackson could breakthrough at any time. Merlac becomes frantic and screams out of control like a small child, " God! GOD NO!! We're going to die! We're all going to DIE!!! "  
  
Andrea and Westmore freeze in fear; the sound of fists pounding away at the entrance door causes them to blink hard at every bang. The Doctor stands there beside Gothner as he also starts to into a panic, " What can we do? What can we DO?!! Weapons don't stop him...Weather doesn't stop him...Doctor...DOCTOR DO SOMETHING!!! ", He screams at the Timelord. The Doctor continues to stand there and looks on as the door is being pried open by the frozen digits of the dead Jackson.  
  
" Get behind me...its not really after me...its after all of you. ", he says to him in a straight serious voice.  
  
Gothner does what he says, there's no time to ask him why, and the frozen corpse is finally though the doors and slowly walking up to the Doctor. Gothner well behind the oddly dressed Timelord watches while Merlac still cowers behind the chair. Westmore has no choice but to stand where his is with Andrea, the area he's in it much too small to move around in. The ice covered dead man, the former scientist of the ship, Jackson, stops in front of the Doctor. It wheezes in and out almost out of exhaustion, but still strong enough to keep going if it wanted too. The Doctor holds his hand out to the former shipmate in the sign to stop where he is.  
  
" I can't let you kill these men. ", he orders Jackson.  
  
The man's eyes flare at that obnoxious gesture, and he begins to speak in a gurgled, rasping, almost demonic voice, " Out...Out of my way flesh creature!!" the man says.  
  
The Doctor puts down his hand and continues to speak to the possessed man, " Why must they die? Why are you killing them all? "  
  
The dead man's lips quiver and move very stiffly as it speaks in its evil sounding tone, " They must die! Just as mine died! It is justice! Now...Step aside!! ", It continues to grumble at the Doctor. The Timelord just keeps in its path, he lowers his head as he continues to think about things. But then looking back, he asks the two men a question.  
  
" Do you know what I've discovered? hmm? Why your friend is like this? ", He says to them like a scolding parent, " Your precious ice sample...the one that Andrea has in her hand there, its a life form...you've been removing them. ", he says to them, the look of shock enters all of their faces, all but one. The Doctor turns his whole body around to face both Merlac and the Gothner, and soon sees the one who's not surprised by his findings in the least, the captain.  
  
" But then you've always known this haven't you...captain. I must admit you did have me convinced you had no idea about this whole thing. In fact I almost suspected you Merlac..." he points to the cowering fool.  
  
Merlac looks at the captain, the man he never thought was capable of such a thing, and then back at the Doctor, " Me? I'd never do such a thing ...and I thought the captain...I thought....", he says now looking disgusted at Gothner.  
  
The Doctor raises his head and looks at the man as he blubbers, ".... You thought he wasn't capable of murder you mean. Captains are supposed to be rational men in your eyes. But then again, this is the only mission you've served where you've ever had to deal with a murder case. You've never seen so much death before, in fact, you never started out as a security officer before this mission...which is why you seemed so upset at seeing your crewmates dying around you." the Timelord says finishing Merlac's thought. The cowardly man just nods and cries, " It's just a job.... I wasn't even in the war against Remi Four; I took jobs away from all the carnage, lower security ones. But after it all settled they gave me a promotion...and this mission. I didn't want my family to see me as a coward, nor my fellow shipmates, so I made myself to be a hardened Guardsman. Seeing Jackson....", he gulps as he looks up at the corpse standing there, " well.... I.... I just lost it. I've never killed a man...or...or anything in my life!! ", The man covers his face in shame and sobs away, as the Doctor gives the captain a stare down.  
  
Gothner just scowls at the pompous Doctor, the gun quickly slides into his hand and points it directly at him. Now Gothner's brow begins to sweat, his eyes become wild and so to does his manner. The ice man growls at him, but the Doctor holds him back with his hand, as to not to make any sudden movements.  
  
" You idiot...", Gothner says to the Timelord, ".... I did what was necessary for all! We've got a job to do here damnit! And I'm not going to let any minor life form get in the way of my mission!!" he says defiantly.  
  
" Why murder Jackson? He didn't deserve to die.... ", Westmore says to him in disbelief. The captain looks at him; the madness in his face now takes shape, no longer sounding like the leader of a vessel, but a man gone mad from years of constant failure.  
  
" He.... He wanted to warn the company...I.... I couldn't allow him to do that...if...if the company knew...we'd be..." he stutters as he soon looks off into the distance.  
  
The Doctor once again finishes the sentence for him, and explains his whole scheme to them, ".... you would be decommissioned and sent back to the home world without a penny to your name. You've had that happen before hadn't you captain sir...in fact you've had it happen so often.... that this was the last one. One more and you would have been off to the penal colony for failure of duty. That's what they do to members of the corporate syndicate...Beta Sigma Eight is very inflexible when it comes to its employees. "  
  
Gothner stares up at the Doctor, he's not sure how he knows all about this, but every word he's said is true. The Doctor continues to reveal what he knows as he slowly walks towards the shaken captain, " So when you found out that your scientist had discovered a life form within the biggest supply of pure ice, you made sure he'd never talk about it...ever. You took the samples and melted them all down, no doubt Jackson was appalled and tried to stop you...and that's when you forced the rest down his throat. You tried to drown him...but he fled the ship, hoping to get away. But you couldn't let him.... you had to make it look an accident...or at least...a mystery."  
  
The captain now growing furious at the Timelord's revelation finally confesses in a loud voice, " YES!! I killed him!! I shot him as he ran...I wanted to make sure nothing spoiled this mission! I took a chunk of ice and crushed his damn skull!!! That would be the end of those damn creatures and Jackson! We could mine the moon, return home and finally get the respect we so deserved!! Too many missions I've served had the scientist ruined it for me, worried about life forms or the environment...BAH! Who the hell cares! I needed the money...I needed the promotion...I needed my life back!! "  
  
Merlac no longer cowers behind the command chair, he quickly grows angry at the murderous captain and tries to take the gun from him, " I may be a coward.... but I'll not die for your stupid mistakes!! ", he says to Gothner as he struggles with him for the gun. As they fight for the weapon, the sound of a loud bang is heard between the two, smoke rises up between them as they both stare at one another. Finally, Merlac collapses, in his abdomen lay a bullet hole covered in blood and smoldering. Gothner starts to laugh insanely, another murder on his hands makes him snap completely, and soon he whips around with the gun and points it at the Doctor.  
  
" Now look what you've done! I'm going to have to kill the whole crew now...and finish this mission myself!! ", He laughs out in a evil outburst, his eyes are wild with madness and soon squeezes the trigger. The iceman no longer stands where he is, pushing the Doctor out of his way and onto the lower section where Westmore and Andrea are. Gothner screams as he rapidly pumps bullets into the rampaging zombie heading towards him, the last one he shoots finally hits in the center of the head, leaking out the blue liquid that is the alien. The zombie stops just in front of him, as the leaking is slowly making the creature die from exposure. Gothner smiles as he thinks he's finally won, but with all the remaining powers the creature has left, it grabs hold of the captain and runs towards the huge windows that look out from the command chair. The two smash through the glass and fall to the ground in a very long drop, Gothner screams as the two hurl towards the ground, and in one swift crunch, the captain dies on impact. The dead scientist lies on top of him, the last of the liquid spills out from the dead man's brain and onto the icy surface. The creature dies from total exposure now, leaving only a frozen puddle on the cold ground.  
  
Westmore and Andrea help the Doctor back up; a small bump on his head shows up from hitting the metal panels. Andrea quickly holds his head and looks into his eyes for any sign of trauma.  
  
" Doctor! Are you alright? Let me have a look..." she says with great concern. He simply shakes his head and stands back up. Westmore seems relieved the whole thing is over.  
  
" I'm fine my dear.... just fine. ", the Doctor says to Andrea as he brushes himself off, " Well...not the way I would have liked to ended it...but it seems your murder has been solved. Only...to have a new one happen...not to mention the many crewmen...but I'm sure you can explain it all to your superiors when you return home. ", The quirky Timelord says to Westmore.  
  
" But Doctor...We can't go home empty handed. If we don't return with any pure ice from the moon.... well...we'll all be punished, like you said.... the government doesn't exactly like failure. ", The communications officer, Westmore, says to him.  
  
The Doctor grabs hold of the ice core sample Andrea placed on the console as she attended him; He opens up the sample and shows Westmore the alien life form sitting inside. The communications officer is amazed at the sight of the glowing liquid creature that's housed in pure ice.  
  
" I'll make a deal with you, I'll communicate with them and ask if they can suggest areas on this planet for you to take home.... ones with unlimited purity and far enough away from their habitat so that they won't have to go around killing you all again. Hm? ", He says to him with a great big toothy smile.  
  
" You'd do that...I mean.... they would do that for us? But we were killing them....", Westmore states in a confused look.  
  
The Doctor walks over and puts his arm around the man, " Oh I'm sure they'll forgive you...after all you didn't harm them until your captain started melting them all. No, no....I'll make them understand the whole situation completely. Trust me. ", The Timelord says as he pats the man on the back.  
  
â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢  
  
In the snowy ice moon canyons, the Doctor and Andrea all bundled up again are seen walking towards the TARDIS, which looks slightly covered in snow and ice. A strange thing for Andrea to see, all this time she thinks the thing would be buried in the snow. But the TARDIS generates a heat shield, much like it's impervious shell protecting it from harm, the Timelords had to make it very resistant to all types of conditions in order to visit any place in space and time. As they approach the TARDIS's doors, Andrea is puzzled by everything that just happened.  
  
" Doctor? I don't get how the creature was able to takeover Jackson in the first place...surely his body temperature melted the creature inside of him before he died. The traveler turns to her as he finishes opening up the door, " True...but this is a liquid life form...most feed on other liquids of the same make up, and human bodies are mostly what my dear? ", he questions her.  
  
She smacks her head in realization, " Water! Our bodies comprise of water...so it fed on the liquid..." she smiles as she waits for the Doctor to finish her conclusion.  
  
" And shifted to the brain, where it sits in a nice skull full of liquid. Realizing it could use the organ it simply absorbed the brain and took over. These types of creatures are very intelligent my dear, sitting in a big container of ice for eons gives one time to think of other things...of shoes and ships...and ceiling wax, cabbages and kings! ", The Doctor says in a comedic tone as he spews out some lines from Alice in Wonderland.  
  
She just shakes her head at his awful attempt at humor, but then looks back at where they just came from and sighs of relief, " I'm glad the ice beings agreed to help them, the new agreement they made with each other will ensure a peace between the two. "  
  
The Doctor just smiles and opens the TARDIS door, " Indeed. It's as solid as Ice. ", he winks at her. She just laughs and shakes her head again, She then plops a snowball on his exposed shorthaired head, and giggles as she waits for a reaction. His smile then turns to a frown, as she starts her way into the TARDIS, he gives her butt a smack with his hand as she passes and she squeals as they both enter the TARDIS. Once the two are inside, the door closes behind them. The light on the top of the craft flashes on and off, the loud whooshing noise of the TARDIS taking off buzzes through the cold air, slowly fading into the mists as it finally disappears into nothing.  
  
The End. 


End file.
